Lighter prison term in rapes of prostitutes is thrown out
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A man convicted of raping two women at gunpoint shouldn’t have gotten a lighter prison sentence simply because the victims were apparently working as prostitutes, the state Court of Appeals ruled this week. Calling the Seattle trial judge’s reasoning “clearly erroneous,” the court threw out Jeffrey McKee’s 19-year prison term, clearing the way for the Kent man to be resentenced to up to 30 years behind bars. The fact that the women “may have been willing to have sex for money does not trivialize the trauma of being raped at gunpoint,” Appeals Court Judge William Baker wrote. “Such crimes are egregious no matter whom they are perpetrated against. (The women) were in no sense willing participants in these acts.” The opinion drew praise from victims advocates, who said prostitutes are often seen as disposable and deserving of whatever happens to them — even though abuse or other desperate circumstances may have led them into selling sex in the first place. More : seattlepi.nwsource.com |